The Second Time Around
by k8ebee
Summary: When Rory wakes up in a hospital bed thinking she is about to head into grade nine her world is turned upside down. Having lost the memory of 7 years of her life, she tries to piece it together. There are three crucial missing pieces though, and she's hoping that these three boys will jog her memory.
1. Chapter 1

Sound was the first thing to return to the young woman who laid still. She heard the faint sound of beeping and slight snoring. With extreme effort she forced her eyes open, looking to see where the snoring came from. Next to her bed sat a man. He looked so familiar. She tried to concentrate to remember his name, but it seemed to escape her despite her efforts. Thats when she realized she didn't remember her name. Panic flooded her system. As she tried desperately to get up she heard a shriek from the doorway.

"Rory!" The woman shrieked, slowly Rory's memory started to sneak back.

"Mom?" Rory croaked. Her voice sounded awful. Her throat was so dry she could barely get the word out. The snoring man had snapped awake, _Luke..what was he doing here?_

"Hey kid" he said with a relieved smile. Lorelai was at her side now. Hugging her far too tight, Rory coughed as she gasped for air. Quickly her mother released her grasp.

"Oops I'm so sorry! I just never thought you'd...oh Rory everything is going to be okay now." She cuddled her very confused daughter, Rory hoarsely asked the a question.

"Did I miss the first day?" Lorelai looked at her with confusion.

"The first day of what?" her mother asked.

"High school." Rory answered her mother. Horrified looks greeted her response.

"Rory...You graduated from high school over four years ago."

Rory walked up the steps with Lorelai to their home. Luke was waiting for them inside and opened the door welcoming them in.

"Mom...I mean I'm glad to see him and everything...but what is Luke doing here?" She whispered. Lorelai breathed in deeply.

"Well...for now just pretend he's the chauffeur...a really red-neck looking chauffeur..." Lorelai said with a smile.

"But Mom...Chauffeurs don't have their pictures hanging on the wall." Rory pointed to the picture on the wall, she recognized her mom, Luke, someone who looked an awful lot like her and then another teenage girl with dark curly hair. Lorelai just nervously laughed and hurried Rory along to her room. Except it wasn't her room. It was totally different. Different paint, a different bed frame, and the pictures that scattered the walls just confused her further.

"The doctors said that being home would help bring back the memories." Luke muttered to Lorelai.

"Shh! It isn't going to just happen!" She scolded him. Rory turned around and saw Lukes hand intertwined with her mothers.

"Wait...are you two together?" Rory spluttered out.

"Thats my cue." Luke said and quickly left the room, Rory could hear him sneak out the back door. Rory looked expectantly at her mother.

"uhh...Surprise!" Lorelai finally said. That's about the time that Rory fainted.

Three weeks later, very little had returned. Rory remembered everything up to the first day of grade nine. Leaving seven years of her life a black hole that she had no recollection of. She remembered Stars Hollow. She remembered Lane and Sookie, though the fact that Sookie was married to Jackson and that they had three kids and that Lane had twins was an extreme adjustment. With the help of her Mother and Grandmother, which was of course another big shocker, Rory was piecing together her lost seven years. Apparently she had left Stars Hollow High, attended Chilton Prep, and gone onto Yale, which of course bewildered her because she had always wanted to go to Harvard. She had then graduated from Yale and had become a journalist. The last her mother had heard she was working for an online magazine following the presidential campaign. Shortly following that Rory had been in a car crash. She had been transferred to the hospital closest to her family where she had been in a coma for three weeks. Which brought her to where she was now.

She had lost seven years, but gained a stepfather, a step-sister, a half-sister, and apparently several ex-boyfriends. Living with Luke came easy. It beat the food she was used to eating in the morning and she had always loved him. She hadn't met her step-sister April yet, and while her father Christopher had stopped by he didn't bring her sister Gigi with him. The missing hole in her life seemed to mock her and she tried harder and harder to remember who she was which just left her with less and less.

Finally she asked Lorelai one day a favor.

"Mom...I have an idea." She announced.

"Ooh! Does is involved popcorn and lame movies?" Her Mom responded, Rory laughed.

"Not quite. I want to talk to those guys you mentioned." She explained.

"I have a feeling your not talking about the backstreet boys." Lorelai mused. Rory just looked at her expectantly.

"Okay! But if they blow of Stars Hollow with all their little man-fights its not my fault!" She warned.

"How bad can it be?" Rory asked.

"Oh honey, just you wait and see."

She was nervous. She was about to meet one of her ex-boyfriends...that she didn't remember. The doorbell rang. Her heart skipped a beat. She heard Luke go and answer the door. She listened to the stiff greeting.

"Luke." The boy at the door spoke with a very curt tone.

"Dean." Luke replied gruffly. She wondered what had happened there.

"Rory! Your...Dean is here!" Luke awkwardly hollered. Rory stepped out of her room into the hall. That was when she first saw him. The first thought that went through her mind was _whoa_. He was tall. Like really tall. His brown hair was long for a mans, coming past his chin. His eyes were hazel. He smiled at her. It was the most beautiful smile she had ever seen in her life. Luke looked back and forth and them, looked like he was going to say something seemed to decided against it and went out the front door that Dean had just come in through.

"Hey Rory, long time no see." Dean's voice sounded like the voice from an actor in a chick-flick. It was baritone sounding and smooth. Everything about this guy made her flustered. How had she ever dated him!? He was gorgeous, and in the forty-five seconds she had spent with him he was completely and utterly charming.

"Hi." She finally managed to get out of her mouth. He smiled and motioned to the couch. Rory was glad for suggestion because she felt like she might just fall over drooling looking at him.

"So Lorelai explained to me whats happening. I thought we could go somewhere to see if it makes you remember anything, that okay with you?" He asked. Rory nodded, she probably would say yes to anything he said right now. She tried to remind herself that she wasn't fourteen. She was twenty-three, she needed to act like it. Suddenly Dean laughed.

"What?" Rory asked, flustered.

"Nothing, you just really remind me of how you used to be, its nice." He assured me. I relaxed slightly. I realized that he had met me first when I was only fifteen so that I probably a flashback for him, now if only I could see the flashback too. He stood up and offered his hand to me, I hesitated at first but put my hand into his.


	2. Chapter 2

She felt comfortable. After Rory's nerves had subsided it was easy to laugh with Dean. She felt as though she had known him for years, which she supposed she actually had. He became even more gorgeous as she spent time with him. He was sweet. He was genuine. He was kind.

"And this is where we kissed for the first time!" He said with a reminiscent smile as we stood in Doose's market.

"...In the grocery store?" She asked, slightly confused. Dean laughed.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "You had picked up some cornstarch, you were so stunned when I kissed you that you bolted right out of here with it still in your hands."

"Oh wow...well...thats..." Rory blushed.

"It was cute, don't worry." Then out of the blue he kissed her. Right there on on aisle three, by the bug spray. It probably only last two seconds but to Rory it was a forever.

"Uhhh...thank you." She said standing there awkwardly, Dean burst out into the loudest laugh she had heard from him yet. Rory turned bright red.

"no don't be embarrassed! You just said that last time." He grinned his beautiful smile. O_h great, now I've been the biggest dork ever twice! _Rory thought. Dean wrapped his arm around her and they continued on their way.

As Rory closed the front door she couldn't help but smile. She had just had the best day of her life. Dean was what she had imagined as a little girl. The strong, tall, funny guy who she could see herself with. She almost forgot that the only reason she had spent the day with him was because she couldn't remember him.

"Hey." A male voice came from the sofa, Rory whipped around to face the stranger. She screamed, not recognizing him.

"Rory! Rory! RORY!" He leapt to his feet, grabbing her shoulders trying to calm her down. The light on the stairs switched on and Luke ran down with a look of panic on his face, he relaxed as soon as he saw the man who had startled her.

"For crying out loud, you could've told someone you were here!" Luke lectured him. He shrugged.

"You know him?" Rory asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, you do too." Luke looked like this whole situation was stressing him out.

"Wow, you really don't remember, do you?" The man asked.

"No and why are you in my house?" Rory tentatively inched closer to the stairs towards Luke.

"Cause I know the way in. The lock on your bedroom window has always been unreliable." He replied.

"Who are you?" Rory inquired. He smiled back at her.

"Jess. Jess Mariano." He said it as if he half expected her to go _OH! Right Jess! How could I ever forget you!?_ Instead she blankly stared at him.

"Well this is awkward." He mumbled.

"Hey Jess, maybe you should leave...come back in the morning or something, go stay at the diner." Luke tried to convince him.

"I'm good on the couch." He said with somewhat of a smug grin, Luke rolled his eyes.

"What is going on down- Oh." Lorelai stopped in her tracks when she saw Jess.

"Lorelai." Jess gruffly acknowledged her.

"Jess...What a pleasant surprise," Lorelai spoke, her tone sounding like it was anything but, "Break into any houses lately?" The exchange reminded Rory of how Dean and Luke had greeted each other. There seemed to be tension between everyone all a sudden and she had absolutely no idea why.

"None worth mentioning." Jess sharply replied to her mother.

"I seem to remember you clearly being told to come in a couple weeks." Luke interceded before Lorelai and Jess could continue.

"Hi Jess, Rory got in an accident, lost all her memory, and now we are gathering up the moose, the snotty rich kid, and you to try and make her remember, by the way you are the last resort because Lorelai doesn't want you hanging around." Jess mimicked Luke's voice as he pretended to be talking on the phone. Rory bit back a smile, his imitation had been pretty spot on. Luke looked like he was about to tell him off when Lorelai cut him off.

"That is...pretty accurate. I'm...sorry. But you have to understand that all of this must be overwhelming for..." Lorelai trailed off, the three all turned to Rory as if suddenly remembering she was there.

"Give her some credit. She is smarter than anyone in this room and in case you have forgotten, I know her." As he spoke he looked so confident. Rory had never seen someone talk about her with so much assuredness. She actually believed that he meant what he was saying. He wasn't trying to be charming. He was just being honest. Something inside her seemed to react to him. Not like she had to Dean, with him it was almost like she felt like an adoring fan. Jess was different. She felt like she could trust him, that he wouldn't lie to her. She felt like she did know him even though no memories had returned. She hadn't realized in all her thinking she had zoned out of everyone arguing.

"Stop." Rory said softly, no one paid any attention. "STOP!" she hollered. Everyone stopped, shocked. After the silence had lasted a moment she spoke again.

"Why doesn't he stay here?" She suggest softly. Jess smirked victoriously. Lorelai glared at him.

"I'll see you at breakfast then...Auntie." He said the last word sarcastically. Lorelai just glared.

"Oh goodie, I always wanted to have a meal with my least favorite relative." She bit back.

"Okay thats enough, Jess, you can stay here tonight. Thats it. Lorelai, go to bed before you kill the kid. And Rory, get some sleep." Luke seemed to really have stepped into their family, he was able to coax her mother upstair without a fight and Jess seemed to have accepted what he had said as well. The weird thing was that it didn't seem weird. It seemed like Luke had always been there. She waited until she heard their bedroom door close. Rory and Jess stood their just looking at each other for a moment.

"Been a while." He finally broke the silence.

"I wouldn't know." Rory awkwardly mumbled.

"Right. Ugh..are you okay?" He asked. Rory was stunned. She tried to think if anyone had asked her that since she woke up. She was sure someone had...but they didn't seem to mean it like he did.

"I...don't know." She admitted. He remained his distance from her, not wanting to scare her.

"I'm sorry about screaming." Rory mentioned, noticing his wariness. He seemed to relax a little bit.

"Hey...I brought you something." He remembered, headed over to the couch where his bag was. Rory followed him, when he turned around she accidentally bumped into him. She stumbled back a bit, he grabbed her with around the waist with his arm before she could fall back. He held her there like that for a little bit. It was like time had frozen. They were just looking at each other. For a moment, looking at his eyes she felt like she could remember him. Little flashes it seemed like. He stood her up and the flashes were gone. She hadn't noticed that his other hand had a book in it.

"Whats this?" She asked, as he put it in her hands.

"A book. Uhhh...my book. I wrote it." He suddenly looked bashful.

"You wrote a book?! That is so cool!" Rory was excited, she couldn't wait to read it. Jess seemed embarrassed almost with how excited she was.

"Its not like its a best seller or anything. But open to the dedication." He smiled. Not a smirk, but a real smile. She opened up the book as he instructed.

"For the girl who inspired me. For Rory." She read out loud, she looked up at Jess with disbelief.

"You wrote a book for me?" her voice squeaked.

"Pssh! No! I wrote it for me, you just got mentioned!" He said with a grin. Rory laughed.

"Luke was right though, you should get some sleep." He headed over to the couch where he plopped himself down. Rory just nodded.

"Thanks for the book." She blushed and headed towards her room.


End file.
